Sunday, March 6, 2011

Life and living



Its been an unusual time; surreal, scary, and illuminating. Last Tuesday, I got a call that my son was gravely ill. He had been jogging, when his heart stopped.  A fellow jogger caught him as he stumbled and fell, summoned help, two people pitched in on the CPR, someone stood by with the 911 call, directing the ambulance – which happened to be two minutes away, no more, and he was taken to the best heart hospital in the area, which they happened to be near. Messages of grace that made it possible for him to recover. Angels, doing God’s work as simple expressions of care.
I don’t think anything can prepare you to hear your child is on life support. Even if it is for a good reason, your mind stops functioning. Calm deserts you for a while, and if you can get it back, its not true calm, but the trying-not-to-be-anxious funneling of prayers, love, and support from yourself and everyone you know – and collaring every doctor to pummel him or her for answers…I tried to remember to stay centered in Spirit, but it was intermittent.
We hear that we are spiritual beings having a physical existence. I feel lucky that there are those who address our physical existence with such dedication and intelligence! Modern science can be a wonderful blessing, God’s work in another guise. He had the benefit of vast improvements in care science to protect his brain and heart, and space-age diagnostic tools to chase down the cause. Some of those tools are so sophisticated and new that he will have to be transferred to Silicon Valley to take advantage of them. Maybe in the end we will know the physical reason a 42-year-old man in excellent health will experience sudden cardiac arrest. Judging from the news, we aren’t the only ones who are interested.
The spiritual side – ah, he had wonderful support there. The word went out over several networks, and he had worldwide prayer, reiki, and loving support. By his side, I could feel the energy from those prayers thrumming through my fingers…I can’t thank you enough for them. God didn’t need them, but we all did.
I was also fortunate. My son had been adopted by another couple as a small child, and we had been in contact over the years. His adopted mother is a wise woman, had been open about letting me into his life, and had called me right away when this happened. Other than somewhat unusual explanations about my presence there, the nursing staff and doctors were fabulous, supporting the entire family on my son’s behalf.
So we are wonderfully blessed. Blessed by his amazing rescue and recovery. Blessed by God’s grace in the fullness of Spiritual expression. Blessed by friends, loved ones, and the incredible kindness of strangers. We are deeply grateful.
And so it is.  Amen.

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